AZ54

I haven't posted in this thread because I initially felt it was a bit early to compare anything McCown had done to what Cutler had done. Defenses need to see McCown's tendencies in the new offense and make their adjustments before we get a true sense of what he can do. I do not see McCown as a starter. Period. (Or is that two periods?) He does not have a strong enough arm to threaten the defense over the top. Never more obvious than his incomplete deep pass that was 10 yards short in the Rams game. With Trestman's offense that isn't a killer as it might be say with Bruce Arians' offense. I agree that McCown has run this offense better in some ways than what Cutler was doing. Flying by the seat of my pants as usual.... I prefer Cutler in the redzone on fades and back shoulder throws. No data to back that up just like how Cutler fits the ball into a tight space better and his passes, even on fades, are more linear (i.e. faster throws rather than lobs) making it harder for a defender to adjust to the ball. Between the 20s I like McCown as he seems to take the proper early read more often. However, I do not like all the WR screens we've been running with McCown in there. I feel these screens are getting less and less effective as teams play closer to the LOS realizing we don't go deep as often, or as well as we did with Cutler in there. Can Cutler learn from watching some of this? One point I haven't seen in this debate has been the offense and Oline as they learned the new scheme. Games like New Orleans were the Oline was clueless about who to block for much of the game come to mind. That gets pinned on Cutler's performance. By the time McCown entered the scene the Oline and WRs were more settled in the offense. Preference 1) Keep Cutler for around $14mil/yr ideally a 5 year deal that gives us a way out after 3 seasons. Plenty of time to draft and groom a replacement if needed, and if he's playing lights out by then we can keep him and pay him some big $$ on a backloaded deal in the last couple years. If that happens he'll have earned it. If we can't get him to agree to a reasonable starters salary then I prefer to keep Cutler for at least one more season under the franchise tag. Draft an early round QB...don't care which round either. If the guy Trestman likes is there in Rd 1 make it happen or if nobody stands out take whoever drops to us in the 2nd or 3rd Rd. I'm not opposed to the idea of franchising Cutler and trading him if we get the right compensation. I'm not pushing for that to happen but if the club feels we get fair value and the right guy is there for us in the draft then do it. McCown IMO is the perfect caretaker while the young gun learns the ropes because he can win games in the first part of the season and he will help the new guy learn the offense. Let the new guy takeover mid-season and we're off. If the team has determined Cutler is not our guy for the future there is zero reason to simply let him walk. Any QB with his mid-level starter talent has a lot of value in this league. Before his injury we averaged 28pts per game and there are always a few teams that will trade for that kind of production. P.S. As I looked up team scoring stats I'm surprised to see us ranked 4th right behind New Orleans, and ahead of the Cowboys, Patriots, and Lions. Granted we've had 4 INT returned for TD in there but we also have the #1 WR duo, something that teams will consider when evaluating Cutler or McCown.

We have Washington on the roster. I like his athleticism and he has the size to handle the run game just needs to develop. Very disappointing that we had to bring in Bass and now Cheta is ahead of him.

The one trade I proposed weeks ago was to move SMC. He doesn't fit our scheme but he does fit a 3-4 defense. Get whatever you can for him and move on. There is no reason for anyone to trade for Peppers, his performance on the field doesn't warrant it much less his salary. I believe Hester is on the last leg of his deal and thus a FA but again there is nothing in his performance that would make anyone say let's go get him. It is just time to bite the bullet and rebuild the D. Cut huge salaries like Peppers and take our cap hit now. As much as I like Peanut I'm not sure he'll be back but I'd like to see us find a nice middle ground and keep him. Briggs will be around, we need his leadership. Wootton as well, along with Jennings and the rookie LBs. After that is open IMO. Jason is right, as bad as our DT issue is we really need a game changing DE and those are much harder to find. Change is on the horizon. It better be because watching a Bears team with no defense is not something I can tolerate.

Ball was ruled uncatchable because it was intercepted ahead of where the pass interference occurred and at the same time the pass interference occurred. At least how the refs saw it real-time.

This is real. With Peanut out and Frey having a broken hand we have issues.

Agree on not extending the length of time it takes to review plays and we definitely do not need to review even more plays. Per the NFL's officiating boss this play would be reviewed as "neutral" regarding the performance of the refs. Indicating that perhaps the call might have been wrong (he didn't say that) but the process they used in conversation from the appropriate officials as well as the fact that in real time this is a bang bang play where they have to see the timing of both the INT and the interference. They judged them to have occurred at the same time and thus no foul. In slo mo replays from various angles we can see that there was some contact just prior to the replay. They ruined the game somewhat when they decided to review every scoring play. First off, that alone isn't correct because of the ruling is not a TD then no matter how close to the goal line the play is, if not called a score, it doesn't get reviewed. I'll live with the occasional missed call in a game in order to keep momentum swings a significant part of the game. I was content when coaches had their challenges and if correct earned a second one. Otherwise play on.

The ruling was not that Gronk could not have come back and caught the ball, it was the the ball was uncatchable because a defender, not the one who interferred with him, had stepped in front of the play and caught the ball ahead of where he could have. This has happened before in games where someone undercuts the play and intercepts the ball while the receiver was clearly contacted before the pass would have arrived and no flag. http://www.nfl.com/rulebook/passinterference Note 3: Pass interference for both teams ends when the pass is touched. The refs on the field judged that the interference occurred at about the same time as the interception. Just like they judged the Patriots leg whip earlier in the game was not a penalty. Its a judgment call and these guys get several during every game that are questionable. I happen to agree the interception occurred at the same time and in a spot the receiver was not able to get to in order to compete for the horribly under-thrown ball. Even if it was a blown call I accept these calls as part of the game and most often they balance out. As I said before the Patriots got a huge benefit from one blown call earlier in the game for no leg whip penalty (drive continued for points not to mention taking out the defense's best player) and lost points on another judgment call. That's a wash so I see zero net gain or loss to the Patriots from the officials.

Yes, if the ball is tipped or if it is uncatchable...you are correct.

Can't be defensive holding as the contact occurred after the ball was in the air. PI is called but waived off correctly due to the INT occurring in front of the play thus making the ball uncatchable. We have all seen PI calls waived off before due to a ball being uncatchable, it happens all the time and Tom Cry-Brady is not deserving of special rules. If people are so pissed off about refs blowing calls and impacting the game then why are you not complaining about the obvious leg whip by the Patriots Olineman that nearly blew out Charles Johnson's knee? No flag on the play and it made a huge difference in Carolina's defense the rest of the game.

Explained it very well and really from a perspective on things I didn't or wouldn't think about. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...0,7332934.story

One more game added to the books and I think they played another solid game. Gave up 20 pts took a pick 6 to the house via rookie Bass so a net of only 13 pts the offense had to overcome. Rookie Bostic added another INT that showed he's getting more comfortable in coverage. We have gaps and I'm implying we are a shutdown defense just that I continue to see progress from the young guys we have out on the field. We won't be stopping anyone's running game with the DTs we have on the roster right now. Maybe when Ratliff and Paea get back on the field we'll be better but the next two games will be tough up the middle. Peppers also contributed with some positive plays as well which was good to see. Now about Zach Bowman and all those penalties...he needs to settle down.

Agreed..re-sign McCown for 2-3 years. Not only can he be solid as a backup QB he's a "glue" guy in the locker room according to coaches. Listening to his post game interview talking about how he pulled everyone together after the first series or two (lots of mistakes there) in order for them all to review plays and make sure everyone was on the same page validates that.

Oddly enough I just watched an NIU game a couple nights ago...their QB does not have much of an arm either in accuracy or strength. He's a decent runner and he gets by with the level of competition he faces but with the small throwing windows in the NFL I don't see him being successful. I think the comparison to Tebow is spot on.

I agree on stretching and flexibility as being a very important component to any athletes conditioning program. Here's the link to the article about our new strength coach: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-06...trength-program

I lean far more toward 1) Age 2) luck and when I consider the league wide issues I suspect 3) the collective bargaining agreement that prohibits practice tackling, two-a-day practices, etc. Lift weights all you want but tackling to the ground, and being tackled to the ground is different. Practice it before the season and it gives your body time to gain that strength. Practice blocking on Oline and Dline more often (i.e. OTAs) and you get acclimated to the stresses, and timing of contact, you'll have in a game situation. Don't practice these parts of the game for 8 months and you lose it. I'm not an advocate of full contact practices throughout camp but I believe more contact is necessary than what they do these days. Briggs...injured shoulder while landing with his arm extended trying to make a tackle and a defensive player lands on his back further driving him into the ground. Classic way to dislocate your shoulder. Fail to see how a different weight lifting program changes that. Tillman...been battling a sprained knee all season. Tore a triceps muscle in a game. Again, he hasn't been able to do much more than suit up for games with very limited practice all season. Possible weight training issue. Melton...blew out his knee trying to move around a block. Avoiding weightlifting moves (i.e. squats) as Rusty did would have avoided this? I don't see that as a cause-effect. I think squats better reflect the demands placed on a player's body during a game than the various separate exercises on machines Rusty reportedly used. Collins....see above DJ Williams....torn muscle. I'll agree with potential for weight training here. Kelvin Hayden....torn hamstring, needed surgery. Didn't see how it happened so don't know if that's an issue where he was just running or doing some cuts in traffic and lost his footing. Could be a workout issue. Paea...turf toe. Never heard of a training program to avoid this. Meanwhile on offense, where our roster is younger, we don't see as many injuries. Martellus Bennett has played through his shoulder issue but it definitely impacted him. He got injured going sky high for a Cutler pass in the endzone and landed squarely on his shoulder. I'll submit that part of this is luck too. This is a physical game and reality is younger people heal quicker so what may start as a minor strain in a muscle doesn't escalate to a torn muscle a week later. A players age cannot be ignored when looking at injuries and the length of time it takes to recover from them. Past injury history is also a factor for older players. As they say, after the first game everyone is playing with some pain or injury.

I do count the Packer game because we had more pass rush there than we'd seen in weeks. Sure Rodgers would have handled that better than Wallace but still in that game i felt we were in better spots more consistently to defend plays than we were against Washington. Still had plenty of gaps in alignment against the Packers but again coming forward another week to the Detroit game that got better as well. I'm either ahead of the curve here and soon the stats will back this up or I'm off my rocker once again after drinking too much kool-aid. We'll see how we do the next couple weeks. The loss of Tillman will hurt because Bowman is not nearly as good in run support but that's the edge plays and the inside run defense is where I think we've improved. I'll throw this out there too: I think after the last game Bostic has come even with D.J. Williams play. Even if Williams were to come back within a game or two I don't think he'd get his job back. We'll never know that but I'll rely on the rest of the board to let me know what they see out Bostic the last couple games and in particular the Detroit game.

Over the last two games I like the progress I've seen on defense. The Packers minus Rodgers are not the same team but other than bouncing off Lacy and a some missed assignments during the game we had people in the right place most of that game. Against Detroit, minus another starter (SMC) we held our own against their run and passing games. Not even close to what we saw against Detroit in the first matchup this season. I checked on some stats and I'll be honest I don't see it showing up there so I got nothing to back me up. From an execution standpoint I felt our LBs and Dline were in better position and making contact around the LOS more than we were a few games back. Tom Thayer seems to have found a few positives too regarding Paea's performance. http://www.chicagobears.com/multimedia/vid...9d-b66288c98f52 I'd say Bostic had a good game as well and looked a lot more comfortable on the field. We still have gaps in talent (I can't even name our backup DTs right now) but I'm giving Tucker some credit despite the injuries and turnover I think he has the D headed in the right direction.

Trestman has integrity and that, IMO, bodes well for the future. I agree we should have pulled Cutler, if not at the half, midway through the 3rd quarter after it was obvious he couldn't move.

Looks like we have stunned silence on this one. Congrats to SMC.

He never played the run very well when he was in his prime why would that be different now when he's also not playing the pass very well? Two moves in the middle of the season likely takes away one strength (Peanut covering the edge and his run support) and creates two weaknesses. Give Peanut and off-season to practice at FS then I'm good with him there. I see no reason to sign Asomugha.

We run a west-coast offense predicated on quick releases. He can do that and I think his arm strength is better than he's given credit for.

Packers were out-coached and out-GM'd (if that's a word). Emery did a far better job setting up our backup QB position while the Packers were playing musical backups all the way up to the beginning of the season. Trestman had his backup more prepared than McCarthy did. I include McCown filling in for Jay against Washington in that assessment. On the other side our Oline, for the first time shutdown their pass rush schemes. Run blocking was hit or miss but overall was effective. Now about fixing our special teams, can we get Toub back?

A QB I watched play last week and was impressed with his ability to throw the ball. He's not mobile and may not have the deep ball arm strength so he might drop a bit in the draft. Yet his abillty to hit receivers in stride in the short to intermediate game is very good. http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/nfl-dra...ails-to-deliver

Great win. Saw some good things tonight from several players and many things we must improve upon. SMC...great game.. Make the hustle plays that's where you fit in. Peppers...finally influenced the game throughout. We needed that tonight. Rookie LBs...lot's to learn here....stay in your gap. I still think the future is bright for these guys but the learning curve will be painful. DTs....we really need Ratliff to shore this up. On offense everyone stepped up but game ball goes to McCown. He was really poised throughout the game. My other game ball goes to Marc Trestman. He had a game plan that worked very well.

It is time to settle this down with Steltz. I'll take the slower but surer tackle than all these missed assignments and missed tackles.